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High-performance Computing at NYUAD

June 30, 2014

NYU Abu Dhabi's high-performance computing cluster, named "BuTinah" after the marine-protected archipelago reserve off the coast of Abu Dhabi, has played a critical role in supporting the computational requirements of the NYUAD research community.

Researchers in genomics, chemistry, mathematics, neuroscience, physics, and the social sciences are heavy users of the cluster for their computational needs.

NYU New York Silver Professor of Biology Claude Desplan's lab, which studies fruit fly neurons, has used the computer to manage a database that allows its researchers to compare the results from next generation DNA and RNA sequencing of the neurons. NYUAD Assistant Professor of Biology Kristin Gunsalus' lab has used BuTinah to develop computation methods for analyzing the interactions of microRNAs and their mRNA targets in atomic detail. And NYUNY Associate Professor of Biology and Computer Science Richard Bonneau's lab has published seven papers and submitted another that have utilized the computing power of BuTinah for their studies in computational biology.

The Center for Global Sea-level Change, led by NYUAD Professor of Mathematics and Atmosphere-Ocean Science David Holland, uses the computer to analyze the large sets of data the team collects from field research in Greenland and Antarctica.

Chemists at NYUAD also use the computer. NYUAD Associate Professor of Chemistry Timothy Dore's group performed docking experiments with BuTinah, during which the team computationally tested the way different molecules bond with each other. And as part of his research on "mechanically responsive materials," NYUAD Associate Professor of Chemistry Panče Naumov's lab has successfully modeled the structural and spectral properties of these intriguing molecules. Finally, in the social sciences, NYUAD Assistant Professor of Economics Samreen Malik has used BuTinah for her work on the asymmetric effects of tax changes.

This article originally appeared in NYUAD's 2013-14 Research Report (13MB PDF).